Hay River (Feb 24/03) - Peter Watt has a prominent day job as marketing and communications officer for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

He's also prominent in Hay River for his volunteer work. Watt is past president of the Rotary Club of Hay River Sunrise, which he organized in 2001.

Since last year, Watt has also chaired the Hay River Community Health Board Foundation.

"The community gave to me, and through the Rotary Club and the Hay River Community Health Board Foundation, I have the opportunity to give back to the community," Watt says.

The foundation raises money to buy equipment that the Hay River hospital would not otherwise get from the GNWT, he explains.

As chair, he is deeply involved in the foundation's 2003 fundraising project to raise $100,000 to buy emergency department equipment -- a defibrillator, a portable ventilator, a portable ultrasound machine and five emergency stretchers.

"This is our biggest project to date," he says.

The six-month campaign began in early February and so far has raised $33,000, including $25,000 from the Elks Club and $5,000 from the Caribou Motor Inn.

"It just blew us away that we're getting that level of support," Watt says.

Despite his New Zealand accent, Watt was born in Toronto, where his father attended school. His parents returned to New Zealand when he was a year old and he grew up there.

His dual citizenship allowed Watt and his wife, Rosina Currie, to come to Canada in 1999.

His wife became supervisor of the Hay River Medical Clinic. "We thought this would be a lifetime experience," he says of moving to the NWT.

Watt, 53, has worked with NTPC since May 2000. His community involvement began in New Zealand, where he helped form a Rotary Club in 1996.

As president of that club, he twice travelled to Vietnam on a project to help lepers.

"That changed my life really, what I saw in Vietnam," he says. It made him realize there are millions of needy people in the world, and it also proved he could make a difference, locally and internationally. The Rotary Club of Hay River Sunrise is currently considering an international project -- helping a club in Chile establish a dental clinic in a poor area of Santiago.